Natasha Leonova's beauty saved her life. Discovered on a freezing Moscow street by a Russian billionaire, she has lived for seven years under his protection, immersed in rarefied luxury, while he pursues his activities in a dark world that she guesses at but never sees. Her home is the world, often on one of Vladimir Stanislas's spectacular yachts manned by scores of heavily armed crew members. Natasha's job is to keep Vladimir happy, ask no questions,...

Texas businessman John Mills and his Czech companion, Petr Kovac, travel to the furthest reaches of post-Soviet Russia to acquire vouchers for the country's national oil company, Gazneft, moving town to town with suitcases full of cash, until the Russian mafia and Gazneft catch wind of their successes.